I know what you’re thinking; are harp seals really that lazy? Well alright, you’re probably just thinking that this Parry Gripp song is pretty catchy, but I want to take a few minutes to write about the life history and behavior of this little dude.

Harp seals are named as such because their dorsal fin is shaped like the musical instrument, and while it might not be as majestic-sounding as a harp, young pups can make their own music. Observe:

You can find harp seals in the Arctic and north Atlantic oceans eating different kinds of fish, including but not limited to cod, herring and Greenland halibut. Common predators they have to watch out for are polar bears, sharks and killer whales.

Harp seals also do happen to have a cool yellow jacket…for a little while anyway! Their fur is actually yellow when pups are born, so they get the nickname “yellowcoats” for the first few days of their lives. They’ll then move onto a white coat, from there a silver-tinted coat, and a “ragged-jacket” look when molting in between phases. After the white fur is completely gone, they enter the “beater” phase, and by 15 months old the seals have some solid spots that qualify them as “bedlamers.” They’ll stay like that until they reach sexual maturity, where they’ll take on the long-term harp seal coat. Good to know that harp seals have more fashionable outerwear than some of us humans, eh?

The harp seal might not have a cool camera, but when everyone else is clamoring to take pictures of you, who needs one–right? As far as them being lazy goes, the world may never know; but in the spirit of laziness, here’s a picture of a harp seal casually napping so you can think about that question while you go back to laboring at work, class, etc…and generally not being a cute harp seal.

VOICE FOR THE OCEAN

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